Bhopal:Friday, February 13 : The Chief Minister Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan, in his reaction to the interim rail budget presented by the railway minister in the Parliament today, said that it is disappointing for Madhya Pradesh. He said that the rail budget has failed to meet the expectations of the people of this second largest state of the country to get better rail facilities.
The proposals like plying a daily Habibganj Kulrla train, running daily train between Bhopal and Lucknow, making Puri Jaipur Express bi-weekly, extending Shatabdi to Indore, starting a Bina Itarsi third line and adding a coach from Bhopal to Jabalpur Mumbai Garib Rath have not been implemented.
The Chief Minister said that the budget has been shown surplus through jugglery of figures by adding interest and surcharge. Despite reduction in diesel prices the rail fair has been reduced by only two percent while the reduction should have been minimum ten percent. The Indian Airlines has reduced their fairs by thirty to forty percent. Shri Chouhan said that all the projects announced by the rail minister earlier are lying incomplete. The speed of trains is being increased without enhancing capacity and the quality of tracks has also not been improved due to which more accidents are taking place. The railways minister had announced that no railway crossing would be left unmanned, but no proposal for this was to be seen in the rail budget, he added.
Reacting to the railway minister’s announcement to start bullet trains, the Chief Minister said that for this we are looking to Japan. Transportation of goods is being increased without strengthening the wagons. He said that better security arrangements on trains are required but the budget has no provision for this. Besides no attention has been paid to improve the quality of food served to passengers.
Terming it a populist budget presented with an eye on the ensuing elections Shri Chouhan said that it shows more concern to entice voters than to provide better facilities to passengers.